The boy who used to live with your Ma and Pa and who now controls the conversation in Liberia say your Ma and Pa were less Liberian than his Ma and Pa. He also say “the Settler children ain’t worth foosah, they ain’t know nothing and can only take drugs”.

Right now in Liberia you cuss the Indigenous man Ma and he can hurt you bad way. Not the Settler boy. You can take your finger and juke it in his “MA butt” and he will not say nothing.

You know the old people say “joke is joke, play is play but putting your finger in a dead man’s a**, is damn provoking.” Oh, to you, you not dying? Sit down there and let “bugger bug (termites) eat your brain!” Since you cannot defend your people but will sell your soul for government job and local favor, and small thing, let me say this about them.

I knew your parents from living in Monrovia in the 60s and 70s. Your Ma and Pa were not perfect and some of them were down right rotten. However, they had seen enough great men and women growing up in Monrovia, both Indigenous and Settler. These men and women were of such inspiration that they were occasionally motivated to do things that made us happy and proud. I must admit Monrovia seemed a friendlier town when your Ma and Pa were alive.

For example, James A.A. Pierre coming to Sports Commission nearly every day after work to watch us play basketball. Frank Tolbert “drinking drinks” with us on weekends on the Lane. The Legends of Lango Lippy and Teetee Glapor. Rocheforte Padmore leaving government for good because Steve Tolbert insulted him by putting his foot up on his desk. He slapped it off. Tubman’s modernization Plan and Tolbert’s Higher Heights. Steve Tolbert with Mesurado and Harry Morris in Agriculture. Notwithstanding a few missteps in Liberia’s post-repatriation history, the progressive examples are many.

Your forefathers forged a nation out of nothing. Their willingness to brave the treacherous seas to return to their homeland, now unfamiliar to them, is arguably history’s most poignant show of rejection and escape from the evil throes of slavery. Years later, all that we are is of them but you are satisfied, sitting supinely on your behinds, oblivious, no, ignorant, still no, unconcerned that their contributions are being underrated, yea, even swept into the abyss of history’s dustbin. You useless, worthless children! Are your parents not worth defending?

Tell the boy who now controls the conversation about how your Ma and Pa fuss the time he brought his son he had with the girl on the farm to stay with your. Or how he sent his outside daughter to CWA. Here is a suggestion: perhaps you could host a parade down Broad Street in your parents’ honor. In America the Ku Klux Klan DOES IT. Oh they can rage hell with them but they come out and strut and shake their stuff. Or you scared of what the boy who now controls the conversation will say. “Looka those damn Settler asses! They finish! Their time nah pass!” SO WHAT? AT LEAST YOU MARCHED! And don’t worry about shaking it: they already say you gay!

Or you prefer to do what appears as the thing that you do. You prefer to “Nicodemus,” the boy who lived with your for small thing then you can go flex to Ambition, Red Lion, or Anglers. When the “hopojoe” (street walker) asks you, “papey weh your name?” You can haughtily, with an air of pseudo-supremacy say, “Richard Henries the third”, as if you ever got up to defend your parents or grandparents since their murder nearly forty years ago. What kind of nonsense is this? I vex now!

Would there have been a “Liberia” if your forefathers had not made the great emancipation move? If they had not rejected slavery to venture back into the so-called “dark continent”? No one can say but my guess is probably not. The land would be here but would probably form territories in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast and we would be known as Guineans, Sierra Leoneans or Ivorians. Several times in our history this territory was sought after by the French or the British and some even taken. We are called “Liberians” today because of our forefathers’ bravery, fortitude, resilience and quest for freedom during the days when black people were kept in zoos as animals for the entertainment of the Caucasian (white people) audiences. And even while our kind was in zoos, your great great great grandmothers were quilting for the queen of England while your great great great grandfathers were defending the terrain that you now lay claim to. AND YOU ARE NOT PROUD ENOUGH OF THEM TO HONOR THEM EVEN FOR THAT?

Maybe for true, your ain’t worth “foosah” (fart). Perhaps the stories of your treachery, even during the time that your parents were alive may have some truth to them. Let’s get serious here.

Well excuse me. This thing is becoming bastardly. The One Affectionately called Medusa betrayed everything those Settler boys did. To say she was a lover of freedom may not be true. The effect of her betrayal on the average Liberian, in my opinion, is far greater than the effect on the Tolberts and Taylors whom she decimated. I say that because the Tolberts and Taylors have passed on but the ordinary Liberians and their generations are doomed to continue suffering because of her “freedom fighting” filled with falsehood. You can find her undermining governments as far back as Tubman. Poor Oppong!

And then there is her love for the Weeks’; enough to make me jealous. I had always wondered what made Victor Weeks (he changed his name to Vittorio A. Jesus Weeks) brave enough to publish the paper entitled “The Revelation” in 1974. Led by Keith Neville A. Best, along with Ernestein Cassell, Patrick Burrowes, Aaron Fallah Brown (deceased), Othello Brandy and Willard Russell, that paper was published on regular letter-sized paper and distributed free of charge weekly around Monrovia. The paper always contained scathing criticisms of the Tolbert Government. If you think Costa or Sando Johnson is harsh, then you did not read “The Revelation”. It can easily be classified as a forerunner and up there in importance among the elements that caused dissent in the Liberian society. And this boy was our age. He made us feel inferior. Here we were studying, not totally oblivious to all of the “ills” of our society because, for God sake, “it was a one party system”. But Victor knew it all. And his bravery to put it out there. WOW!! It got so bad that one day we decided to march against the Government and stand behind the ‘bravery’ of our age mate. That was until the police came out and fired rubber bullets over our heads. This is 1974!! Victor was jailed for a short while and then the ever conciliatory President Tolbert (Weh day man will do? This was one of our sons! A prince!) would give him and some other student leaders representation in the legislature. But what made this Weeks boy so brave to openly defy the whole Government? All we could do was stare in awe and admiration. Victor would later be involved in a car accident along with his wife, the beautiful Vivian Sayeh and suddenly, this most popular and most influential personality ‘slipped into darkness’. Yes people! The uprising against the Tolbert Government did not start in West Point or New Kru Town or even in some village in rural Liberia. It started in our own “Settler” community. At one time Victor was The Prince.

Look, nobody want to be my friend; alright?

Folks however, Steve Tolbert had practically stolen the lucrative uniform business from the Weeks family. This could be Victor’s revenge factor but there was more to the Revelation than that. That paper was well financed and when you saw their (the Weeks family) popularity in the previous government, well those were “things that made you go umm”.

Now right after the Rice Riot of April 14th, 1979, President Tolbert’s son-in-law, Senator Shad Tubman Jr., was accused of being a co-conspirator. Tolbert got on the air and said on television: “Senator Shad Tubman could not do this to me”. Well as Monrovia was being stripped of everything on that fateful Saturday, I saw Senator Tubman driving around in a red car, perhaps a Mustang, but it was fancy. Every checkpoint he got to he raised his fist in solidarity with the rioters and they in turn greeted him with a chorus of approval. It appeared to me that he was either involved in the action or was in strong solidarity with it. Either way, it seemed he had betrayed the President, his father-in-law, and the nation. However, he was truly beloved. He was Baby Shad, the son of the President who pampered us the most. Shad who was given the most, and drank from the wealth of Liberia’s fortune, gave back “foosah key” to this country. Before you die, you must hear it. Senator, Baby Shad, you betrayed us. So die in Maryland USA, and let them bring your body home for a State Funeral at Centennial Pavilion.

And then the Free Town man, Dr. Amos Sawyer and Co, continued to brainwash us in history and psychology classes at the University from around 1973 to about 1978. I wonder what they were doing at Cuttington College (where Dew Mayson was) in those days and how much these guys were paid to betray their country? If the general consensus today is that Tolbert was arguably the most progressive President, preaching and doing “higher heights”, “total involvement” and “mats to mattresses”, while achieving self-sufficiency in agricultural production, bringing Liberia’s credit ratings to its highest in its history, educating the highest number of Liberians in all of the disciplines in all countries including USA, Russia, Romania, UK and others and, in general, raised the living standard of all Liberians irrespective of tribe or origin, THEN WHY is history recording this man as the lynchpin to Liberia’s downfall? Only in settings where we establish that Liberia was sold out by sons who prospered at the drinking fountain of the GOL then we start to cry out: “Tolbert was the best president. He brought BCADP, LCADP, NCADP (agricultural development programs in the counties rivaling any in the world), He gave contracts to only Liberians for the OAU and hosted OAU conference in Liberia, He educated most of us who are anybody in Liberia in universities all over the world and yada yada yada”; but for the ultimate sacrifice that he gave his life in the service of Liberia, has his family put its best foot forward to defend his legacy? Not Billy. In 69-70, Billy Tolbert Jr. told me about his band Wild Thing and said, “And the wind cries Billy”. I am in sympathy with the family and even in sympathy with Liberia for losing such a great man but, to see his family cowering in the face of people who, directly or indirectly, may have been involved in his destruction is disheartening for me. How many of you also have treacherous histories that will reveal your own dirty hands when you try to tell the stories? And all this from a Tubman boy.

So if it seems that Oppong is losing his way to you, well look at the company he keeps at night and then you will see the message in the madness.

Then there was Bacchus Matthews, the Don King of Liberia, a former State Department employee of the Liberian Consulate in New York, the story is famously told about his part in the misappropriation of money that was discovered when Steve Tolbert ordered an audit of all of the Liberian foreign missions. Bacchus was not an “activist” at the time. He fled the hands of justice living in the US for a period and then returned to Liberia with more the bravado than Victor Weeks. Bacchus died a few years back and was given a hero’s sending off. “The father of the revolution” they chanted. This was more than twenty years after the death of Tolbert and if someone had taken the time to record history properly and honor their parents’ legacy, even the common folk who were encouraged to parade in the streets would have perhaps had second thoughts.

The True Whig Party was changing internally, evolving as it were from 1977. It was not fast enough and not transparent enough but was happening. More and more “indigenous” Liberians were becoming educated and upon return would have been assimilated into the GOL. Even me, I was made Assistant Director of Broadcasting at the Ministry of Information. Charles Gbenyon, Joe Morris, Gabriel Nimley were all under me. This was 1977-1978. After the Rice Riot of 1979, Dr. Peter Naigow took over the Press Union, they drove my behind out and I ended up at Cathedral School just in time for the death of Sister Rose Gabriel.

You see folks, this crowd is gullible. However the only ones willing to tell stories are those that have the hidden agendas. If the stories were told, the “father” of the revolution would probably have been hailed as the “son” or “grandson” of the revolution since the forerunners (Victor, the One Affectionately called Medusa and whoever else) would have been known.

Forty years later, as I look at the constitution of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Government, I begin to understand the source of Victor’s bravado. The Weeks abound in the Government: Antoinette (Public Works Minister and then transferred to ECOWAS when she appeared not to be too popular at Public Works), Angelique (Telecommunications Authority Head), Milton (Central Bank Governor along with his brother Charles who is rumored to be a Weeks), Ophelia (President of the University of Liberia), Kimmie (the snotty nosed obstruction to LWSC’s development) and so on. Also, people who are associated with Weeks seem to be preferred. Recall that Victor was married to a Sayeh and a Sayeh was Sirleaf’s first Finance minister. Could it be that Alexander Cunmmings’ bravado is also linked to his Weeks connection? Things that make you go hmmmm!!

Then there are the McClains, cousins to Ian, Jimmy, Connie and Bushy Yhap. These were my school mates and age mates. A Yhap is a Yhap. Connie was a conservative, Connie remained conservative. Jimmy was a Hendrix, Jimmy still is a Hendrix. Ian was your friend then and Ian is your friend now. Nothing changed.

Prior to 1980, the year of the coup d’état in which President Tolbert was murdered, all of the McClains except one, had Settler names. Genevieve (Ian’s mother), Emily (J. E. Benjamin’s mother), Florence (married a Nigerian, Dean of the medical college), Charlotte (married Karneh and then Dean), Rev. John Weseh (former Minister of State), Jeanette (remembered everyone’s birthday), Vashti (played Maria in the Sound of Music), Edward B. (popularly called Bobbin), Randolph (PhD in Chemistry and VP for DuPont), Charles (Agricultural Economist), Louis (No one knew his Louis name. Everyone referred to him by his “Kru” name, “Nuku” — a real cool dude, and finally Samuel (or Nuks, the accountant). Their father, Edward B. McClain, Sr., worked at the Ministry of Finance for forty two years and was only retired after Steve Tolbert became Minister. EB Sr. was extremely honest and as collector of taxes could account for every penny collected for the GOL. Not so with most other parts of the Ministry of Finance (then known as the Department of the Treasury). According to Francis Nah Wolo, our noted local historian, Steve retired EB Sr. because he was not going to be polite in his shake up of the Department and as an older uncle, did not want EB Sr. to hear “the words that he was going to use” to shake up that place. Steve was shrewd and direct, a quality that helped in his success over the years. He was also the younger brother to Florence Tolbert McClain, the wife of EB Sr. But we digress. The history of Liberia will be hard to finalize without the story of the McClain family.

It was a proud day for us when Randolph McClain (aka Kpokpo Weah Worjoloh) was appointed to head NOCAL, the National Oil Company. Finally, we thought, an appointment based on merit, qualifications and certainly not any particular likeness for the McClains. John Weseh and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf were classmates along with Willie Jones, Dunstan McCauley, Clavender Parker, Ambrose Wotorson, etc. But that closeness did not score Weseh any points and he was venomously excluded from the EJS Government even though his brother Bobbin was preferred (that is another story that needs to be told). Read my first article, “Alone Again Naturally”; it may help. But back to Randolph. Most people only came to know that Randolph’s wife was a Weeks at her funeral.

Aretha Franklin had not yet made the song “Respect” and we had gone to Palm Grove on Decoration Day. I was in love with Cia Richards and followed her to a grave near St. Samuel School. At the grave was Gledy Badio, Fatu Dennis, Theresa Kenneh and Darling Gbenyon and Baitunde a.k.a Aurelius Weeks (later married Julia Cummings, the sister of the presidential aspirant Alexander Cummings) who was introduced as Darling’s brother. On the grave was the name Aurelia. Randolph McClain got out of a taxi (1966-67) and walked to us. He wore blue jeans and white t-shirt. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket upon which he asked Darling to be his girlfriend.

So during her funeral when her family came to sympathize, most people were surprised to know she was a Weeks. But we old Monrovia boys knew the “gees”. Darling was a beautiful woman and a kind soul; a true genius in the purest sense and clever as a whip. So was Gledy Badio, Lady Richards and even Ophelia Weeks. I am sure Darling is singing with the Angels in Heaven right now. I have no doubt that she knew the kind of sway she could have in an Ellen-led government but she never sought a job in the Liberian government. Perhaps she understood the circumstances surrounding her brother Charles Gbenyon’s death and would have no part to play in the political games. Like Victor in the 1970’s, Charles Gbenyon displayed a bravado that wowed all of us in the 1980’s. He was younger but we “looked up” to him. Charismatic on TV reading the news, his performance rivaled Jonathan Refell in his prime in the 1960’s. It is said that his final act of bravery was to have gotten a videotaped interview from Emmet Harmon, the Head of the Election Commission during the controversial 1985 election between Jackson Doe and Samuel Doe. Isn’t it ironic that the two guys could have the same surname but be mortal enemies? This interview, it is said, was potent enough to cause a nullification of the election result which gave Samuel Doe the victory by a landslide. He was captured and we really don’t know for sure how he was killed but the rumors say that he was decapitated in the executive mansion on Samuel Doe’s orders. Today, I know that Doe did not order his death. Doe was a good guy who got caught up with Liberia’s betrayers just like Oppong has.

Yes, Darling understood very well and chose to stay away from these situations that brought horror to her family, but what about her husband Randolph? You see, my people, the McClain family was directly related to the Tolbert family. President Tolbert’s eldest sister was married to Randolph’s father, E. B. McClain, Sr. During the 1980 coup d’état, when all the McClains were in hiding, Randolph moved freely about with one of Samuel Doe’s closest allies and his classmate George Boley. He seized the opportunity to revert to his Kru name and eventually left the country, living in the USA for the next 35 years until he was called by Ellen. But now I believe that Ellen did not call him because he was a McClain, or because he had a Ph.D., or even because he was a former VP of the US chemical giant DuPont. It is disheartening to note that she called him because he was a part of the revolution that began the destruction of Liberia and a member of the clique. If Darling was not going to take her apology for sacrificing Charles then she would do the next best thing, enlist her husband as she had always done apparently. It was also necessary to engage a former operative, in whom she had confidence, knowing fully well what was going to go down at NOCAL.

No Settler man liked the boy from the farm so much that he called him his junior. Chea Cheapo was Joseph Chesson Jr. until he joined the ungodly and they overthrew and murdered the True Whig Party. Look, my man, Russia was a Christian Empire that worshipped God and built Cathedrals in His honor. They replaced Christianity with Communism. What was the God of Communism? The Will of MAN! The point that I am making is that the treachery of our generation has been so great and shameful, no wonder we cannot celebrate our parents’ victories. How can we, when we have been undermining our parents even during their lifetimes? And then we try to twist history and encourage the new age historians with lies simply because we think that this will sweep our misdeeds under the rug.

Then there’s the story of James A. A Pierre, Sr., former Chief Justice of the Republic of Liberia in the Tolbert Administration. It is said that he recused himself from the Gberrie case as he recognized that it would be a conflict of interest given his position. What an honorable man! Many will be too young to know about this case. Gberrie was a store boy working for a Lebanese. He was accused of having stolen a candy in the Center Street Supermarket. The Lebanese man choked him to get his candy back and killed him. When news of this incident surfaced, there was a huge uproar by the citizens demanding justice for Gberrie. It was a politically charged situation threatening to cause a national disruption. The government was obliged to convince the public that the trial would be free and fair and the Chief Justice’s recusal would be seen to be testament of the commitment to transparency in the case. But Lebanese hold together, at least in Liberia and our historians reveal that the Lebanese community raised $500,000.00 to defend their fellow national. Notwithstanding his father’s recusal, Cllr. James E. Pierre agreed to represent the Lebanese. Based on the name and connections the Lebanese was granted bail and quickly fled the country. Now the uproar was even more. The locals, not being able to distinguish between James A. A. Pierre and James E. Pierre, placed the responsibility for this escape squarely on the Chief Justice’s head since they both were called “Jimmy Pierre” but the father was more widely known at the time. This grudge appeared to remain in the society until the 1980 coup came. The rest, as they say, is history. Who is to say that this had a bearing on his murder in 1980? But this is the story that we know and so far, there is no rebuttal in any archives.

As we listened to the proceedings of the 1980 tribunal that tried the thirteen Liberian officials before their execution and murder, we heard many honorable men beg and plead for their lives. Incidentally, more than thirteen were tried but some were set free. Jackson Doe, who would become standard bearer and run for president against Samuel Doe in 1985, was Tolbert’s Minister of Education and I couldn’t tell you exactly why he was set free but my guess is that he was perceived as an “indigenous man” (whatever that is). The fight and destruction was brought exclusively to the SETTLER DESCENDANTS. He begged profusely, claiming that he had not been corrupt and did not possess anything. However, I do not recall that he overtly denounced Tolbert. In fact, none of the accused made any overt denunciation of their former boss except for P. Clarence Parker, Jr., Chairman of the National Investment Commission (NIC) under Tolbert. Parker was the husband of Clavender Bright Parker, classmate and best bud to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Now you can imagine how Satan felt when Jesus died on Good Friday. However, Easter was coming. Liberia must have EASTER.

Now most people would like to believe that the events that transpired between April 12, 1980 when President Tolbert was murdered and April 22, 1980 when the other 13 government officials were murdered at the poles behind the Barclay Training Center (BTC) and on to the murder of A. B. Tolbert and Varney Dempster, were random acts brought on by the frenzy of the coup. Perhaps there may be some truth to that but I see it a little differently. First of all, not all of the people who were sent to the Tribunal were killed: Jackson Doe, Case in point. Jackson would survive this trial to join Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the founding of the Liberia Action Party, where Jackson Doe ran for President against Samuel Doe and lost, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ran for Senator for Montserrado County and won by a landslide. She refused to take her seat when her party did not achieve an all-out win and her party claimed that the election was fraudulent. Coming back to 1980, there were those who did not appear before the tribunal but were executed anyway. John Sherman, Tolbert’s Minister of Commerce, was said to have been taken straight from his office on April 22, 1980 and straight to the pole. In all, I don’t know how many people totally were tried but only 5 were found guilty. The tribunal itself changed leadership three times starting with Frank Senkpeni, who, when suspected of “siding with the “Settlers”, was changed. I don’t remember the names of the other tribunal heads. Gabriel Tucker, the son-in-law of President Tubman and Tolbert’s Minister of Public Works, was said to have been protected by Samuel Doe himself and it was through his instrumentality that Lawrence Norman (engineer at Public Works and son-in-law of President Tolbert) and Tonia King (also Tolbert’s son-in-law and his head of the National Bureau of Investigation – NBI). The recommendation to utilize these gentlemen in Public Works and elsewhere was said to have come directly from Gabriel Tucker to Samuel Doe who gave his approval for their safety. So if the randomness and confusion dictated the mood, then where did this rationale come from?

So with this background, we go back to P. Clarence Parker, Jr. His testimony was contrary to all of the “defendants” at the tribunal and may have been choreographed. After all, he was married to Ellen’s best friend and classmate. It would not be unreasonable to assume (and this is an assumption) that Parker might have been close enough to know (and probably be complicit in) what was going down and would have been given assurances by his compatriots (Ellen and Clavender) that he would be safe once he was in denial of Tolbert (with an opposing testimony). So he went along with the script, except, his partners had no intention of coming to his rescue and left him there to die. If Gabriel Tucker could save Lawrence Norman and Tonia King, there is no reason why Ellen could not have saved Clarence Parker, especially since the “sons and daughters” of the “revolution” were so revered and respected in the days immediately following the coup. Bacchus Matthews – Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. Boima Fahnbulleh – Minister of Education, George Boley – Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Dew Mayson – Chairman of NIC, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – Minister of Finance. P. Clarence Parker, Jr. had probably served his purpose, possibly providing insider information on Tolbert and the government, and was now expendable. May his soul also rest in peace!

“The Enemy of the Black man is the Black man’, that was a famous saying from Marcus Garvey. You heard Bob Marley sing “they sold Garvey for rice”. Where? Liberia! The rice? Pusawa! Oh now you see it. Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican, lived in Harlem USA and ran a successful business — ‘Black Star” shipping line. He got in contact with the Nigerian, Former Mayor of Free Town and President of Liberia, C.D.B. KING. It was right after World War ONE and Liberia had the first Pro-Poor Government.

It was agreed that through Black Star Shipping, Liberia would get engineers, doctors, lawyers, soldiers, agriculturists, teachers (all black) and some good cash. In return, Garvey would be allowed to settle in Cape Palmas and then disperse throughout the country to do work. An exploratory team was sent and soon followed by a Harvard graduate W. E. B. Dubois. Yes, the great Dubois who formed the NAACP in America. Dubois instead introduced King to Firestone and they “freed OFF” Garvey. This was what really broke Garvey’s heart. Soon he was arrested in the USA on charges of mail fraud when he couldn’t deliver on his promise of repatriating paid subscribers and they “Ghankayed” him. Dubois himself became disenchanted, rejected democracy, became a communist, moved to France and died undistinguished.

This is the same Firestone that you say contract too long. Well when the Tolbert Brothers — Willie, President; Steve Allen, Minister of Treasury; Frank Emmanuel, Pro Temp; went after Firestone on behalf of the Liberian People, we sang “Steve in the ocean, plane crashed, Frank on the pole, murdered, Willie catching bullet”. Your taking it for fun.

The betrayal began early. In my book “Calm Before The Storm” see how they play E. J. ROYE. If not for Tubman that man name was going to remain spoiled forever. In “Letters From Liberia” read about “Freed Men of Color” reporting other “Freed Men of Color” to their former masters in the USA. Today we all have someone else we report to. We call them “Our Investors”. At the inauguration of Oppong all the hustlers had some kind of “scallywag” behind him he called an “Investor”. IT’S IN THE DNA.

And now (drum roll) and put on the song by the OJAYS, “Back Stabbers”, for there has never been a greater betrayer (Kolongo Luo betrayed Quiwonkpa; the Progressives betrayed Christianity for Mamom; MacArthur for Peace; you betrayed your wife for your Boyfriend,) then this. It is with honor that I introduce Liberia’s greatest betrayer.

Folks Kendajah was destroyed, home to Liberian culture and play ground of the Presidents. Ducor Palace, even though the money was found for its renovation, remained zero. Hotel Africa, zero. Unity Conference Center, where all of the African Presidents assembled for the OAU in 1979, zero. 26 DAY WAS abandoned even by Mary Broh — the hardest working woman on the block — and when Kimmie was chosen to give the 26 oration, that to me was a disrespect to the dignity of the occasion. Christmas, you can’t feel it self; E. J. Roye Building, never negotiated with the True Whig Party to fix it; The Executive Mansion, she and Uncle Bobbin chop all that repair money; Lone Star Foot Ball Team and Miss Liberia contest. I guess “when you marry in the toilet, your say it loud, “you got to cut the cake”. J. F. K. Hospital, Just for Killing and a total sore, Newport and Tubman High Schools not fit for chickens. The average boy and girl in Liberia, everything she gets she was on her back and he, they got him on his knees for those Nikes. Shit, that’s bad.

So from the level of destruction, one knowledgeable enough can determine if it was a crime of passion or just someone at the wrong place at the wrong time. The wiping away of Afghanistan was a crime of passion. Someone put their heart into it. The destruction of Liberia was passionate for the wreckage was thoughtful, methodical and deliberate. Afghanistan hosted Bin Laden who was allegedly responsible for 911 so there is justification, but what have we done to deserve a thoughtful and methodical decimation? We moved from one mess to a bigger mess not able to stop the skid throughout Ellen’s regime.

The story goes and I found it to be reasonable that the “One Affectionately Call Medusa” had a sweet heart, an Accountant who worked for the Tolberts. He was a ‘Down the Coaster”. People from Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria were known as Down the Coasters. My man started loving to some of the girlfriends of Tubman’s cabinet. The Cabinet reported to Tubman. Now, Tubman considered himself the Rooster in the Hen House. When opportunity presented itself, Tubman grabbed Mr. Sweet Heart and whipped him good for picking in the Executive Pepper Bush. My man never fully recovered from the beating. When dying, he willed the One Affectionately called Medusa a plot of land but the young Harvard Liberian lawyer did not give the One Affectionately Call Medusa her plot. She got the a** as any woman scorned would.

It is said that she followed Tubman all the way to the clinic in London and on his sick bed made Chicken Pepper Soup out of the rooster in the hen house. She waited all these years until the time was right to deal with the lawyer. The time came in the famous Global Witness Case: Big Boy1, Big Boy 2.

On the day of the trial in 2017, nearly all the lawyers for the defense came in SUVs. The state, Kekeh, Hold It Hold It, taxi and Duazeh (old car). In Liberia that’s reason enough for a hung jury. Then came in the accused.

The Harvard Lawyer, 250 lbs. sat on the front bench. Alex Tyler, 500 lbs., front bench; Richard Tolbert, 400 lbs., front bench; Eugene Shannon, 250 lbs., the same front bench; E. C. B. JONES, buck quarter soaking wet, could not fit on that bench. The judge came and read the proceedings. If he had passed 2nd grade then I got Masters. The man could not read. Then they cut off the air cool and with all those brothers on the same bench, “they sweated profusely”. Two weeks later, the Harvard Lawyer fell out from her stress and the case was over.

Liberia was a Christian nation that allowed all other religions into her gates and they flourished. We had a sacred word from God “Ah Yah” that brought sympathy to any situation. She brought in the Progressives, they abused God and replaced his word with “Weki” in 1980. She wanted “the Indigenous People” liberated but refuse to work with an indigenus man who was Head of State. Then she found Taylor locked up and gave him a proposal he could not refuse. They came and killed up then jailed Taylor. Medusa took over in the garb of a mother but only Pure Cane Juice flowed from her taytay.

I was home for the elections and had been home since 2011. Modern day Liberia was created for CDC one failure after the other. We heard our country grind to a halt and no one stooped it. There was this one time the Minister of Finance reported that he gave the people at Health Ministry 11 million USD. Health Ministry said he did not and on the air they went back and forth. The President told them to shut up. The money was never accounted for; people were shifted to other posts and the “Band Played On’. But the people heard it but were too busy dying from Ebola the next year.

At this same time all you got out of the Police Force were stories of sex, young girls, guys, drunkenness as Monrovia slipped further on the road called “Perdition”. The people heard and wondered “are these people sound”? The only piece of production I saw was when Ledgerhood put that television up and built his new studios. The people wondered. Even the unborn heard that hope was coming and its name CDC. So when Elections came, WE were tired with the whole lot and we decided anything was better than these bad people.

Today, the rate keeps climbing, food is expensive, gasoline unaffordable and school is about to open. The young girls are ready to get on their backs for that phone and young boy on his knee biting into the pillow for a pair of NIKES. All this was done to us intentionally and all this was orchestrated by the One Affectionately Called Medusa. This is not for fun or children.

Finally, any GROUP of Liberians who attain power, become unopposed, the cancer of “Stay Long” will render you impotent. The next man will put his finger in your butt. May God bless and keep us till we meet again. In the Cause of the People, the Struggle Continues.

The One Affectionately Call Medusa, Queen of Sheba, Aunty, Iron Lady, Madam, Grand Matron is the one who denounced her Settler past only when she felt it was totally destroyed.

22 COMMENTS

Times have changed. Times change all the time. When times change, people change. Stangely, we’re still poor and tied down in the third world. By now, we should have crawled into the 2nd world. Not yet? When? When Christ returns?

As usual, great writing, and reporting Henry! Reminds me of a great Liberian Pamphleteer, Agitator, Activist, LoL (Lover of Liberty), Albert Porte! I Appreciate your use of Liberian colloquial ‘English’ in this exposè. My Limerican grandkids use ‘foosah’, ‘break wind’, or ‘cut the cheese’ all the time!😜 I’d love to see, to buy a fuller sized book version! Thank you ‘mah goo fren’!!!😎

For the untrained ears (depends on whether you are reading yourself or hearing the narrative ) this article might quickly pass off as an explicit summary of Liberia’s history relating to “Medusa” et al. but this is an online version of a literary masterpiece compressing contemporary Liberian history with an accent on the state of “affairs” of our beloved nation , the land of the pepper bird.

Times have changed, yes, but it seems to me that Liberia holds on to “yesteryears”, with no prospects in sight of moving on. “So say one , so say all” reigns! Influential powerful people run the country like their farm,luring and/or subduing the masses into submission under the pretext of better conditions. Who actually benefits ? The fortunate few!

Governments are “selected” not “elected”. I hold the view that subconscious manipulation causing the ignorant/unaware to follow the desires of the conscious “string pullers” based on a preconceived/expected reaction of a particular “audience” of interest is detrimental to the nation’s future (and counter democratic). Our politicians study our people’s behavior and reactions and employ tactics to misuse them due to their ignorance.

The state of affairs of the “Green Coast” has to evolve and propel us into the future, aligning us with our contemporaries.

Aye yah, hmmm, truly a mouthful ooh. Thank you sooooo very much for the enlightenment on Lib’s political history. I can attest to the authenticity of some of your narratives, especially starting from the “Gberrie case” to the visionary era of our Late President, William R Tolbert whom I always consider Lib’s best president during my lifetime. You really vex mehn and I believe from your narrative that when a man reaches his Zenith, he has to unload. Thanks again and we can only continue to pray to God (our Heavenly Father) to give His wisdom, knowledge, discernment and understanding to our President, those in authority as well as all Liberians. Let us pray collectively also for God to look upon Liberia with His eyes of pity and mercy, grant her favor, save, restore and heal all Liberians and our Mother land. Remain Blessed dear brother.

Thanks! Your narratives say quite a lot about Liberia. To my astonishment, it seems everyone tends to shy away from the real reason(s) for Liberia’s demise. #1. You don’t interfere with U.S’ interest[MONEY]. Don’t stop “Uncle Sam” from making MONEY; especially so, if/when you are the President of a country called LIBERIA. #2. You don’t challenge Israel…

Damn good. Well written with humor, sarcasm, reflection, truth and genius. 99% I concurred or understood. A few minor factual errors. A few details I did not know. OVERALL MAGNIFICENT. PLEASE PUBLISH in hard copy. Try expanding it in a book form of no more than 100 pages
Thanks
Wellington Nyema Toe Newton

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